Jewels from Jane, Dec 21

Carondelet, December 21, 1838

Right Reverend Joseph Rosati

Monseigneur:

I have the honor to write to you to set forth my little worries. I am sending you the letters that Father Saulnier has written to me. You will see by them how things stand. As to the questions asked me, the first concerns the feast of St. Joseph. You know that you said to me that, as we have indulgence that day, you wished it to be the same as in France and that you accorded another indulgence on the 19th of March, St. Joseph's day. The second question regards the dinner. We have always done as in France because I did not see a change necessary and consequently did not ask dispensation.

The third question is why we are not godmothers though our Sisters are. When I was asked if Sister Celestine could be godmother, I answered that it could not be. I did not say that we could get the permission because it was not necessary that people of the world know all that passes between us and our superiors; furthermore, knowing the obligation that a godmother contracts between herself and her godson or daughter, I thought it would be better to refuse than to accept. If we are godmother for one child, soon we would be for several. Now you see what my sentiments are; you will do as you see fit. I shall always be happy to conform to your wishes in all things and everywhere.

The fourth question is about singing. You know you told us that it would be necessary for us to sing when there would be no choir. We have done so up to the present, except this last Sunday, when M. le Cure said to our Sisters that he would say a low Mass. I do not know why he told me such a thing.

The fifth is why is it difficult when it should be easy? I cannot imagine why he tells me these things: I must let our Sisters do all that they wish; for example, write to Him when they please, speak to him alone when they wish, rise, retire, pray, eat, work, when they are ready. Thus we will have no need of rules and we will be seculars and not religious.

The sixth question is why we do not fast. I answered that you had dispensed us and that I believe that it would be failing in obedience if we fasted.

There, Your Lordship, are several things that worry me. Please tell me what I should do. I find myself in a very sad situation, and as long as I shall be with Father Saulnier and the Sisters who are with me, I shall be in the same embarrassment. One would say they have made their vows to obey Father Saulnier and not their bishop, superior, and constitutions. Pardon me, Your Lordship, if I tire you. I am ready to do all that you wish me to do for the glory of God and my salvation. Arrange matters so that all that will end if it is the will of God.

I have written you concerning the profession of Sister St. John. Kindly tell me when you can come to examine her so that she may be put in retreat for several days. Your Lordship, if you can send us an extraordinary confessor, you will give me great pleasure.

Receive, Your Lordship, the humble respects of her who is with the highest consideration of Your Lordship.

The daughter humble and submissive

Sister M. Delphine Fontbonne

Translation from the French

Jewels from Jane, Sept. 4

"At times as close as possible to one another, warm rays of the sun, piercing the Lyonnais fogs, were directed to America. The letters from the Chartreux addressed to Cahokia or to Carondelet were indeed rays of sunshine. Once, one of these letters announced to both communities, the reception of Mademoiselle Fournier, to whom Mother Saint John had given her own name, to recall to her dear missionaires that she did not forget them. The young novice was to leave with Sister Celestine Pommerel and both would soon join them. There was a great feast in the two convents the day this news arrived. It was the beginning of 1837, when, calculating according to their own voyage, the Sisters remarked that surely the two Sisters would be with them before the end of May. It was not so. May passed, then June, July and August. No Sisters and no news--only a letter from Lyons stating that the travelers had embarked at Brest, on the frigate Hermione which had on board six hundred soldiers and forty officers. At Cahokia, at Carondelet and at Saint Louis everybody was very anxious, and, without daring to voice their fears, they believed that the travelers were lost at sea.

"On September 4, [1837] the two Sisters disembarked at Saint Louis and presented themselves at the episcopal residence, stating their names. His Lordship, agreeably surprised, received them at once. The Sisters had resumed the secular dress, therefore there was nothing to prove that they were Sisters. He invited them to converse together in signs to assure himself of their identity. The Sisters, who were suffering from hunger and fatigue, would have preferred to put that off until later. They had to submit however. Sister Celestine asked Sister Saint John in the language of the deaf and dumb: 'Of what are you thinking, Sister?'

"'I am thinking of the good bread we ate in France and which I need so much at this moment.'

"At this unexpected answer, Sister Celestine lost her gravity. The Bishop, seeing her laugh, asked the reason. Sister Celestine repeated her companion's answer. At once, the good Bishop crossed the room, opened a closet, took food and obliged the Sisters to eat. Their hunger ended the examination.

"Father Cholleton had given a letter to the Sisters for the Bishop: 'It is a great consolation for me to present to your Lordship the two Sisters for whom you asked last year. The first, Sister Celestine, twenty-three years old, is professed. The second, Sister Saint John, a novice, is twenty-two years old. She will esteem herself very happy to make her profession into your hands when you find her sufficiently prepared. Both are animated with the best dispositions, are capable of assisting your plans and of bringing your work to a good end. Madame de la Rochejaquelein has given them three thousand francs. If you wish to thank her, her address is: Lausanne, Switzerland.'

"After narrating their voyage to the Bishop, it was decided that the Sisters would remain some days in Saint Louis; and then, Doctor Rodie, a Catholic native of San Domingo, would lend his carriage, and Black Margaret would take them to their convent. Black Margaret was the doctor's colored servant. She spoke excellent French and, on the way, entertained the Sisters with the history of Saint Louis and its surroundings. She told them that Carondelet was originally called Prairie a Catalan, the name of the one who first occupied it; then it was called Louisburg; and finally, in 1796, Carondelet, the name of the last Spanish governor of Louisiana. The inhabitants of this country were called, jokingly, Vide Poche (Empty Pocket); while the trappers named Saint Louis, Paincourt (Short-of-Bread) because the inhabitants were not rich.

"The travelers arrived at Carondelet during the evening recreation. As the Sisters had not been notified, there was great surprise and still greater joy at seeing again, in the flesh, those whom they had no longer expected to see. Astonishment reached its height, when the Sisters learned that the newcomers were better informed than they about the history of the country and the past and present conditions of the village.

"The Sisters had been three months on sea, never suspecting the anxiety they caused on both sides of the ocean. After [they narrated their experiences on the water] the Te Deum and the Magnificat burst from all hearts. Sister Celestine gave Mother Delphine a letter from Father Cholleton: 'You will be pleased at my promptness in sending you these two zealous and well-instructed aids, so capable of helping you...'

"At once the large trunks from Lyons were opened. They found clothes for the Sisters and the orphans, and beautiful things for the chapel which, until then, existed only in a dream. Then everybody felt that the great heart of Reverend Mother Saint John [Fontbonne] was beating quite near theirs, and that the power of her love threw a bridge over the ocean and abolished distances."

From Mother Saint John Fontbonne: A Biography translation adapted from the original French edition by a Sister of Saint Joseph Brentwood, New York